Going up

The world is taking notice of the University of South Carolina’s School of Hotel,
Restaurant and Tourism Management. The school recently jumped eight spots in the ShanghaiRanking’s Global Rankings of Academic Subjects 2018 — placing No. 24 in the world and No. 11 in the United States in the subject of hospitality
and tourism management.

“Seeing our ranking improve is great news, but the department is on a trajectory to
climb even higher over the next couple of years,” says Chair Drew Martin. “From our
undergraduates, to our graduate students, to our faculty and research centers — we
have a lot of great people working hard to advance our fields and prepare the next
generation of leaders.”

With outstanding faculty, research productivity and strong reputation for alumni career
success, the school is continuing to attract top students and scholars. Martin says
the school is also expanding scholarship opportunities for hospitality and tourism
students, adding new faculty, and forming exciting new corporate partnerships to ensure
students are learning at the forefront of the industry. “This is going to be a big year for us,” says Martin.

From our undergraduates, to our graduate students, to our faculty and research centers —
we have a lot of great people working hard to advance our fields and prepare the next
generation of leaders.

The recent rankings jump and a string of research awards this summer are a testament
to the school’s position as a thought leader on transformative industry trends such
as technology’s role in customer engagement and new economies.

At the 2018 International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education
(ICHRIE) Conference in July, a faculty and graduate student team won the 2018 William
Bradford Wiley Memorial Best Research Paper of the Year Award for their article, “Motivations and constraints of Airbnb consumers: Findings from a mixed-methods approach” published in Tourism Management. This prestigious award is given to a superior research
publication on a topic relevant to the field of hospitality or tourism management.
The paper was authored by assistant professor Kevin So along with UofSC College of
Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management Dean Haemoon Oh and hospitality management
Ph.D. student Somang Min as co-authors of the paper.

"The sharing economy is an economic process where consumers or participants jointly
share underutilized resources such as cars and rooms," So says. "It's growing, and
if you look at recent industry discussions and research trends, it's attracting a
lot of attention from academics as well as the industry."

Ridesharing operations like Uber and short-term lodging services such as Airbnb have
gained the most attention in the sharing economy, but So says the concept has also
moved into the financial industry with peer-to-peer loan services, and is having a
distinct effect on older businesses as well as on lawmakers.

"Traditional businesses are heavily influenced by Airbnb, especially the budget category
of the hotel sector. They are dealing with new competition," So says. “Governments
want to regulate this kind of nontraditional economic transaction."

The question of how the sharing economy will coexist with traditional businesses is
one of the leading issues in the hospitality industry. With the School of Hotel, Restaurant
and Tourism Management helping lead the way on tackling these types of questions,
UofSC will continue to help shape the evolution of a global hospitality industry.

School of hotel, Restaurant and tourism Management

Rankings

Top 10The school is also recognized by Hospitality-Colleges.com as No. 6 overall in the
U.S. with its bachelor's and master's degree programs ranked No. 5 and No. 10 in the
country.

Research productivity

In 2017, the school's faculty published 52 peer-reviewed articles on a broad range
of hospitality and tourism topics, 31 of which are widely considered top tier in the
discipline. Read more.